Analysis of Rafeef Ziadah's Shades of Anger: Is Protest and Resistance the Only Valid Response to Injustice?
Is protest and resistance the only valid reponse to injustice?
Protest and resistance is the only valid response to injustice and oppression. This is because through a non-violent means, protest can stimulate a universal fight by contesting social perspectives and revealing hypocrisies. This is clearly demonstrated by Rafeef Ziadah in her protest poem "Shades of Anger". She is a Palestinian activist, academic and spoken word artist who is currently a PhD candidate at York University in Canada.
When she was in University, doing a creative action she says and I quote "a Zionist came by, and as I was lying on the floor kicked me in the gut really hard and said "you deserve to be raped before you have your terrorist children". Now I ask you, if you were in her situation how would you have reacted? What would you have said? This incident sparked a flame in Miss Ziadah to spread her message of protest against Zionist oppression and injustice towards Arabs and especially Arab women by writing this poem and performing it as a spoken word piece.
The repetition of the refrain "I am an Arab woman of Colour and we come in all shades of anger" is used to emphasise Rafeefs message of protest against Zionist oppression and injustice towards Arabs and especially Arab women. The words "Arab woman of colour" are used as a metaphor referring to the "people of colour" who are non-white people namely blacks who face discrimination based on their skin colour. Here, she is comparing the Palestinian struggle for existence to the native American struggle against occupation and exile.
Miss Ziadah uses symbolism throughout the poem. For example, she describes the painful situation in which her sister gives birth at a checkpoint and says "named her baby girl Jineen".
The word Jineen is a pun which symbolises the Palestinian City of Jineen, the Arabic word Janeen which literally translates to unborn baby or fetus and also has the meaning of the word heavenly.
This symbolism continues to
Protest and resistance is the only valid response to injustice and oppression. This is because through a non-violent means, protest can stimulate a universal fight by contesting social perspectives and revealing hypocrisies. This is clearly demonstrated by Rafeef Ziadah in her protest poem "Shades of Anger". She is a Palestinian activist, academic and spoken word artist who is currently a PhD candidate at York University in Canada.
When she was in University, doing a creative action she says and I quote "a Zionist came by, and as I was lying on the floor kicked me in the gut really hard and said "you deserve to be raped before you have your terrorist children". Now I ask you, if you were in her situation how would you have reacted? What would you have said? This incident sparked a flame in Miss Ziadah to spread her message of protest against Zionist oppression and injustice towards Arabs and especially Arab women by writing this poem and performing it as a spoken word piece.
The repetition of the refrain "I am an Arab woman of Colour and we come in all shades of anger" is used to emphasise Rafeefs message of protest against Zionist oppression and injustice towards Arabs and especially Arab women. The words "Arab woman of colour" are used as a metaphor referring to the "people of colour" who are non-white people namely blacks who face discrimination based on their skin colour. Here, she is comparing the Palestinian struggle for existence to the native American struggle against occupation and exile.
Miss Ziadah uses symbolism throughout the poem. For example, she describes the painful situation in which her sister gives birth at a checkpoint and says "named her baby girl Jineen".
The word Jineen is a pun which symbolises the Palestinian City of Jineen, the Arabic word Janeen which literally translates to unborn baby or fetus and also has the meaning of the word heavenly.
This symbolism continues to